The present invention concerns a module equipping a motor vehicle.
The invention concerns more particularly an external module equipping a motor vehicle of the type which comprises means of controlling the locking of the closed position of a movable part, such as a tailgate, with respect to a fixed part of the vehicle structure.
According to a design normally used in automobile manufacture, and in particular private cars, the rear transverse part of the vehicle consists of a movable part or opening element, in particular a tailgate, which is mounted so as to be articulated with respect to the vehicle body, more generally about an upper horizontal transverse articulation axis, or about a vertical lateral axis.
Many components can be fixed to the rear door of a motor vehicle, in particular when it is a large tailgate.
Thus the tailgate can support, in addition to its closure and locking system, a number plate and its illumination systems, but also possibly the third regulatory brake light, or even all or some of the rear indicator light units, as well as the rear window which is, where applicable, itself mounted so as to be articulated with respect to the tailgate.
All the components, which are of course produced independently of the bodywork piece which constitutes the tailgate, must therefore be mounted on this tailgate when the vehicle is assembled or prior to the mounting of the tailgate on the vehicle body.
However, increasing the number of components gives rise to an increase in assembly time and gives rise to increased risks of assembly defects.
Moreover, it is necessary to provide, for each of the electrical components, firstly the electrical supply, secondly the means of controlling these components, and finally monitoring means which make it possible in particular to give information on the state of functioning of the components either to the driver, for example by means of indicator lights on the dashboard, or to a central electronic vehicle management unit.
In order to simplify and make reliable the various mounting and assembly operations, many designs having recourse to an equipment module attached to the rear element, in particular to a door in the form of a tailgate, have already been proposed.
In all the known designs, the equipment module, or an equivalent sub-assembly comprising in particular means of controlling the locking of the closed position of the door, are in the form of a relatively bulky sub-assembly which is mounted on the rear element of the vehicle from the inside thereof using various fixing means which make the mounting and fixing operations lengthy and complex. According to these known designs, it is in addition particularly difficult to mount the equipment module when the rear element is a fixed element belonging to the vehicle body, or to mount the equipment module inside a tailgate when the latter is already mounted articulated on the vehicle body.
In addition, the electrical components require electrical connections for their supply, their control, and their monitoring. However, in the modules of a known type, moisture can frequently be deposited on the conductive elements of electrical connections thus creating premature oxidation of the elements which may cause malfunctioning of the electrical components.